Ricardo Rodriguez talks the Fall of the Ascension, Announcing for RVD, Initial run with ADR

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Ricardo Rodriguez was a recent guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show. He had much to say about his career outside of WWE, thoughts on the Ascension being booked poorly, and announcing for Alberto Del Rio and RVD.

Here are some highlights:

– On only supposed to announce for ADR one time: “I was just supposed to be there for [Alberto] Del Rio’s debut. I wasn’t supposed to be a recurring character. I was just supposed to be there for the debut. But Vince liked it, and he kind of just kept me around.”

– On the fall of the Ascension: “It really boggles my mind. I was really close at the time with Viktor and his wife, I was really close with them. So I remember I was texting with Viktor’s wife when they made their debut. We were like, ‘Oh my God! They’re on TV!’ We were like marking out back and forth. And then, as time went on, they [just] stopped them. So I hit her up one day. I was like, ‘Did something happen? I don’t want to ask [Viktor] yet. I don’t know if he said something to you.’ She said, ‘I don’t know.’ So I honestly have no idea. I have no idea. I don’t know if they pissed somebody off, which could happen. It happens a lot. I’ve seen it happen… Maybe the machine wasn’t behind them. Because if they want to make something work, if the machine is behind them, you can take a pile of turd, but if the machine is behind it, they’ll make that turd be the prettiest turd in the world.”

– On being a ring announcer for RVD: “About two or three weeks in, I went to Dean Malenko and I asked him, ‘I’m thankful for this. But I don’t know why. What’s the deal, so that way I know how to act, or how to do what I’m doing? Because I can’t do the same thing with Rob [Van Dam] as I was with Del Rio, so I just want to have an idea of the direction, so I have an idea of what to do.’ So, he basically broke it down this way. He said, we basically needed a bridge between Del Rio, Rob, and the title. That bridge was me. So in my head I’m thinking, ooooh, now it makes sense. [It’s] random, but it makes sense.”